Total Syntheses of the Resorcylic Acid Lactone Neocosmosin A and Its Enantiomer

A total synthesis of the structure, 1, assigned to the recently reported resorcylic acid lactone (RAL) neocosmosin A has been established. Olefin-cross metathesis, ring-closing metathesis, palladium-catalyzed Meinwald rearrangement, and Mitsunobu esterification reactions were used as key steps. A late-stage and simple modification to the reaction sequence also provided compound ent-1 that, in fact, represents the true structure of the natural product.